St George's–Zimbabwe gave West Indies a slight scare in a modest chase, but Darren Bravo's class guided the host to a five-wicket win and a sweep of the three-match series, here yesterday.
Unlike in the second ODI, the asking rate was never going to be an issue with Zimbabwe having managed just 211, but the rest of the West Indies' top six gave away starts. However, Bravo, having taken his time to settle in, coolly kept collecting runs through the offside till victory was achieved in the 47th over.
Zimbabwe had their second batting failure in three matches and their seamers lacked penetration again. The only positive for them was the performance of their young leg-spinners Natsai Mushangwe and debutant Tino Mutombodzi. The duo kept West Indies' progress in check after the seamers had failed to break through.
Both Mushangwe and Mutombodzi were eager to flight the ball. They displayed admirable control for 22-year old legspinners. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Kieran Powell had eased themselves to a 46-run opening stand against the steady fare of Kyle Jarvis and Chris Mpofu but were tested by the introduction of leg spin from both ends.
Mutombodzi struck with his third delivery in international cricket, getting one to drift into Sarwan for him to push it back for a return catch. Powell used the sweep effectively against the spinners and also played a few pleasing drives through the off side, only to throw it away for the third time in three innings, lofting Mutombodzi to long on while on 42.
7pm Sports 2013 02 26
Narsingh Deonarine and Bravo were motoring along when the former clipped Hamilton Masakadza straight to midwicket. Two deliveries later, Darren Bravo took a start for a second run, Pollard responded, only for the left-hander to stop, and for Pollard to be run out without having faced a ball.
Dwayne Bravo came in at 121 for 4 and his quick 25 eased West Indies' nerves before he holed out to long on and Denesh Ramdin joined Darren Bravo with West Indies 45 runs away, and the duo shut Zimbabwe out with a busy partnership.
The way the visitors had batted, it was quite a recovery with the ball for them to make a game of it. Zimbabwe went nowhere at the start, then began to find some direction, but soon sank further and further.
A score of 23 for one after the opening powerplay said it all, as far as Zimbabwe's start went. Despite their scorching pace, Tino Best and Kemar Roach did not allow their lines to suffer and Zimbabwe had little opportunity to score.
Scoreboard
West Indies vs Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE
T Mawoyo lbw b Narine 9
V Sibanda c Deonarine b Best 41
H Masakadza b DJ Bravo 6
B Taylor c Powell b Permaul 39
R Chakabva b Permaul 17
M Waller lbw b Permaul 15
C Chibhabha not out 48
T Mutombodzi run out 13
N Mushangwe b DJ Bravo 1
K Jarvis c & b Best 7
C Mpofu not out 2
Extras (lb4, w9) 13
TOTAL (9 wkts, 50 overs) 211
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Mawoyo, 9.1 overs), 2-30 (Masakadza, 12.3), 3-85 (Sibanda, 21), 4-104 (Taylor, 24.2), 5-128 (Waller, 30.5), 6-139 (Chakabva, 36.3), 7-157 (Mutombodzi, 40.5), 8-160 (Mushangwe, 41.4), 9-201 (Jarvis, 48.4)
Bowling: Roach 7-3-15-0 (w1), Best 9-0-38-2 (w3), DJ Bravo 10-1-58-2 (w2), Narine 10-1-41-1 (w2), Permaul 10-0-40-3, Deonarine 4-1-15-0
WEST INDIES
K Powell c Waller b Mutombodzi 42
R Sarwan c & b Mutombodzi 19
DM Bravo not out 72
N Deonarine c Mutombodzi b Masakadza 21
K Pollard run out 0
DJ Bravo c Masakadza b Jarvis 25
D Ramdin not out 24
Extras (lb5, w7) 12
TOTAL (5 wkts; 46.2 overs) 215
Did not bat: K Roach, S Narine, T Best, V Permaul
Fall of wickets: 1-46 (Sarwan, 11.3 overs), 2-83 (Powell, 21.4), 3-120 (Deonarine, 31), 4-121 (Pollard, 31.2), 5-167 (DJ Bravo, 38.3)
Bowling: Jarvis 10-1-54-1, Mpofu 8.2-0-39-0 (w3), Mushangwe 10-1-31-0, Mutombodzi 10-0-35-2 (w2), Waller 1-0-7-0, Masakadza 6-0-38-1 (w1), Chibhabha 1-0-6-0
Result: West Indies won by five wickets
Series: West Indies win three-match series 3-0
Man-of-the-Match: Darren Bravo
Player-of-the-Series: Darren Bravo
Toss: Zimbabwe
Umpires: G Brathwaite, I Gould; TV � J Cloete